WBCOOP Event #3 Live Blog

Today's another "off day" for me at the L.A. Poker Classic. Safely ensconced in a room at the Commerce, how about a good old-fashioned live-blog for Event #3 of the 2010 WBCOOP on PokerStars?

3:01pm - The wireless connection here at the Commerce is a bit sluggish. It took me four minutes to download the latest PokerStars software update, during which time I was tempted to say "Eff it" and go find some Crazians at a table downstairs. But the download just finished and I bought in one minute into late registration.

3:05pm - Ok, internet issues are resolved. Since I'm playing from Commerce I expect that there will be lots of dealer abuse in the chatbox at my table (as well as an hourly request for a new set-up).

3:08pm - And we're off. Ah9h on the button for a raise flops top pair and gets action from 9c2c.

3:11pm - Kings under the gun get no action. Really? None? In a *freeroll*? I guess it makes sense. I've been running bad like that at Commerce for four days.

3:14pm - You always expect to see curious play in freeroll tournaments. Thus there was little surprise when I opened AJ from late position to 100 and the player on my right shoved for 1,950. Easy fold. I may be surrounded by Crazians here at Commerce but last time I checked I'm still a dorky white guy.

3:17pm - The player on my right (9c2c from earlier) is down to 700 chips. He open-raised all in three out of the last four hands, looking for the home run to get back into the game or go home. This is (obviously) a dangerous strategy. So far nobody has looked him up.

3:17:45pm - Someone looked him up with AJ. He had Q8. Ace on the flop. Adios!

3:23pm - One of the minuses of playing from a hotel room is that I don't have easy access to beer unless I want to raid the minibar. At $5 for a can of Bud I do not want to raid the minibar.

3:26pm - Donked a three-handed limped flop and got raised. Third pair doesn't look that good anymore.

3:31pm - Normally when I play online I'm focused on the task at hand but CK is here with me in the room. She turned on ESPN (PTI), which keeps sucking my attention away from the table. Probably not good but if I were really serious about playing poker right now I'd be fishing downstairs with the Crazians.

3:38pm - Some progress. Button opens for 150 and calls my small blind re-raise to 450. My Big Slick makes top two pair and takes the pot down on the flop. The next hand I have AJ on the button and again re-raise an opener for 150. He calls to a K-Q-K flop, then goes away when I bet half-pot on the 6 turn. T3,170. Those two hands represent double the number of hands I won during the 3.5 hours I played on Day 1d of LAPC Event #1 (the Super Donkathon).

3:45pm - Big Slick again. One of the things I've struggled with lately is the right frequency of continuation betting on a missed flop. Here the small blind was the only caller, so on a 10h-5-6h flop I went for the c-bet. He called and then donked the Kh turn. It just didn't make sense for him to play a flush that way and K-10 seemed unlikely. So I called 360 there and 900 on the 8d river. He had KsQs. Excellent! Not sure if that was dumb luck or canny play by me.

3:54pm - Lets hear it for dumb luck! I opened 55 for a raise and was called by the same guy as last time. He had position. Since I c-bet with air last time (and had to show it down) this time I checked an A-8-3hh flop. He bet half pot. Since his range was as wide as the Hudson River, I took one off intending to check again on the turn. A 5 peeled off! I stuck with my plan and checked. He moved all in and I made the easy call to beat his pocket tens.

Why couldn't I have run like this on Saturday, when $350,000 was on the line? T7,745 at the first break.

3:57pm - Sent CK on her way downstairs for LAPC Event #8 - $335 Stud Hi/Lo. She came in 25th in yesterday's $335 Omaha Hi/Lo for a small cash. Let me tell you -- the only thing worse than covering a split-pot tournament is sweating one. Split-pot games play excruciatingly slowly.

4:07pm - With much of the dead money already sitting on the sidelines we're now starting to get to the point where I can steal some blinds and antes. Having a 100-big-blind stack surely helps. Walk tall and carry a big stack, I say.

4:10pm - Squeeze play failed. Unless my opponent was really terrible (not impossible in a freeroll), he had a monster. I don't trust the limp-call-one-third-of-your-stack play and then betting the minimum on an ace-high flop. Maybe he's just so awful that he's brilliant! More likely he was looking for action. It's ok, I had K6. Chalk that up as a learning experience.

4:15pm - By the way, with CK gone the TV is now off. Given that all of my attention is on the tournament I'm sure to flame out in short order.

4:22pm - Our room at Commerce is on the back side of the hotel. Not much to see out there except the power lines that run through the middle of the parking lot. Not much to see at my table except a lot of folding.

And as soon as I say that, I get moved to a new table. Guess I need to start paying attention again.

4:30pm - Predictably, it's all starting to go downhill. Had a c-bet with 22 snap check-raised and then had to let go of another small pair when a short stack moved all in for 11 big blinds.

4:38pm - I couldn't decide if the feeling in my stomach was one of intrigue or dread when I was dealt pocket jacks on the button. Jacks are so damn tricky to play.... Anyway, UTG limped, a player in MP limped, and I raised 5x. UTG responded by shoving (he had me covered). So be it. If he has QQ/KK/AA, he's getting my chips. Nope. He had 77. My jacks held.

4:40pm - People seem to be in the mood to limp-shove on me. A guy limps MP, I raise 4x with KQ, he shoves for 12x. I'm not happy but I look at the price the pot is laying and decide I have to call. He has AT; I flop two more queens. 13,085 now. Life's a lot better than it was ten minutes ago, though I have to wonder what my image is now.

4:46pm - Earlier I was lamenting the $5 cans of Bud in my minibar. I just now realized that there's a coffee and tea service here. I haven't had a good mug of tea in five days.

4:49pm - Bad beat. The only tea here is decaf and green tea. I still have not had a good mug of tea in five days.

4:55pm - Arrived at the second break with 13,825 chips, which puts me just out of the top 100. 312 players left, 153 paid. Lots of work to do, though again I question why I couldn't have run like this on Saturday when $350,000 was the top prize. You'd think that the players in a $335 tournament would be better than those in an online freeroll. Trust me, they weren't.

5:05pm - In the Twitter Era, the live-blog has really lost some of its luster, hasn't it? The bright side is that I'm not spamming the hell out of my non-poker Twitter followers. You know, the ones who think a "squeeze" is something you're not supposed to do to the Charmin.

5:13pm - Limit are up again. I now have an average stack with roughly 33 big blinds. There are four quite large stacks at my table, tho mostly they're on my right. The problem is the other stacks have the perfect 3-bet shipping-size stacks. I'm feeling a bit handcuffed at the moment (and not in a good way).

5:15pm - Oh just bloody brilliant. PokerStars Team Pro Marcin Horecki just moved into the seat on my left and he has me covered.

5:20pm - My table broke. I know they say to be careful what you wish for but this table HAS to be better than the last one. Right?

5:21pm - Looks good so far. I am the third-largest stack instead of the sixth-largest, and the big stack is on my immediate right. This good turn of events no doubt pre-sages some impending calamity.

5:29pm - Just when I decide my new table is snug and I need to start opening up my pre-flop raising range, I can't get into a pot. Each of the last four hands have been opened in front of me. I don't think this is the right time for the 3-bet steal. At least, not yet.

5:33pm - It took two-and-a-half hours but I finally rolled out the all-in bluff. It was possible I had the best hand with ace-high on a 9-3-6 flop but I was in no mood to find out.

5:39pm - What's that expression? Better to be lucky than good? Yeah, let's run with that, since I just took out one player who had kings by making a running straight with AhTh and out-flipped another with Ah9h against his 7s.

Just like that, I'm up to 23,000 in chips. Crazy game.

5:46pm - Another new table and for the first time all tournament I'm seated with someone I personally know -- The Luckbox from Up for Poker.

5:52pm - 12 players off the money now. I'm sitting snug with 19k at 350/700. Would like to have more obviously but all things considered I'm not in the worst spot.

6:00pm - And so we begin the fourth hour of play. I'm going to need to make a push soon or this is going to be over quick. On the bright side, if it's over quick I have a friend downstairs waiting for me at a cash game table and a girlfriend downstairs playing LAPC Event 8. Busting out is not the worst fate here.

6:08pm - We have one short-stacked staller at our table. In a freeroll tournament. Where making the money is an $11 payday. Hilarity ensues.

6:15pm - Haven't been able to take much advantage of a rather lengthy (by internet standards) money bubble. We're hand-for-hand now and I could really use something to eat.

6:19pm - How am I still in this thing? How are we still on the money bubble? How do the people on the Lost island maintain such healthy physiques?

6:23pm - The floodgates are open. The money bubble burst and another 13 people busted on the next hand. I have 18 big blinds. Not much room but not dead just yet.

6:28pm - Nobody at my table seems interested in 3-betting. Given that I haven't exactly been Spanky the Wonder Card Catcher, I guess this is good.

6:33pm - Game over. A loosey-goosey opened in middle position with a min-raise. I jammed the button for 13x with TT. He called (leaving himself 4x behind) with AsQs. The queen hit the flop. I suppose I don't fault him for how he played his hand but it would have been nice to win that one.

Oh well! Off to find mischief down on the Commerce floor.